Surveillance, a Tale of Shate
by ChuckReader
Summary: Chuck and Casey watch surveillance reminiscent of an infamous video.  Blame this one on jaytoyz for creating the Shate phenomenon.


A/N "The first step is to admit you have a problem." (Shater's Anonymous Handbook, p. 1)

I don't own anything related to Chuck, including Chuck.

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The sounds echoing throughout Castle were beyond disturbing. It was like a couple of hyenas working over a festering carcass. But it was more than that. The moaning, the wailing, the gagging and retching, the laughing and crying, the pain and joy that can only come from two wild animals satisfying their hunger by devolving towards their most primitive nature. Gnashing teeth gouging chunks of rotting flesh from their ill-fated prey. The sounds were coming from John Casey and Chuck Bartowski.

Casey and Chuck were in the midst of an embrace. This was not one of those rare displays of affection between the two men. It was a matter of physical support. They were holding each other upright as their knees were buckling. Tears were streaming down both of their faces and spittle was flying in every direction. Chuck's dry heaving triggered Casey's retching. Casey's moaning triggered Chuck's wailing. The cycle continued until the surveillance video they were watching came to an end.

The men extricated themselves from each other as Chuck gingerly tried to brush some of his stray tears and mucus from Casey's shoulder. After some throat clearing and awkward apologies each of the spies returned to their own workstations within their secret base. As they pretended to get back to the important work of keeping America safe the silence bore down upon them. Chuck, never one to let silence persist, spoke up.

"Umm, that was disgusting."

Casey's only response was a knowing grunt. The ol' number fourteen, meaning 'I agree but I'm not talking about it.'

Chuck wasn't about to let this go. He had to get it out of his system. What they had just seen was a violation of all the standards of decency that had been drilled into him by his sister since he was a kid, even before his parents had each taken the train out of their lives, and he couldn't walk away from this without talking it out.

"Why would he do that Casey?" Chuck asked. "Isn't it enough that he's a murderer? He killed my father! When does it end?"

"Chuck, he's lost it," Casey finally answered after a moment's contemplation. "The Ring intersect has evidently damaged his brain in ways that even you could not have anticipated. Remember, Bartowski, you are special, one of a kind. Sure they can cram an intersect into any old stooge but that doesn't mean the stooge can handle it. Hell, some idiot could probably stuff an intersect into that bearded dwarf that's usually attached to your leg."

"Yeah, but when I was having problems, before my dad gave me the governor, I was having strange flashes and excruciating pain. It was debilitating. But I look at that footage and I see a man smiling as he…." Chuck couldn't continue as he felt bile rising once again in his throat.

"What's your point?" Casey inquired, raising an eyebrow.

Chuck held up his hand signaling to Casey that he still needed a moment to settle his stomach. Casey uncharacteristically obliged, crossing his massive arms across his chest, and looked upon his young colleague skeptically. Once Chuck had regained his composure he resumed his train of thought.

"He was enjoying himself!" Chuck exclaimed. "He loved what he was doing. I didn't know the man could smile but he was grinning from ear to ear like a kid at Disneyland while he was doing that… that… that act!"

"So the guy's sick. What's the big deal?" Casey was quickly getting bored with the topic.

"What if this isn't because of the intersect? What if this is the sort of thing he always did for fun? Maybe he would have other people with him while he did it, either watching or joining him." Chuck sounded like he was in a near panic as his voice was rising.

"I'm not following you Bartowski." Casey had heard enough about this and began cleaning up his station in preparation for heading home for the evening.

"My wife used to be that guy's girlfriend!"

The low rumbling Chuck heard may have been an earthquake. The sound kept building until it became an oddly familiar throaty rumble. Suddenly Casey's mouth burst open with the most horrific laughter Chuck had ever heard. Casey's forgotten tears had reemerged in force as veins bulged from his now beet red face. Taking a knee and gripping the table Casey began taking deep wheezing breaths as he tried to get back in control using lessons learned from his traitorous sensei.

Feeling himself again Casey gave Chuck the only advice he could think of at the moment. "Well Chuck, in that case, I'd go pick up some Listerine if I were you."

Casey had packed up and was turning to leave Castle when the door opened and down the steps strode Sarah Walker Bartowski. Her radiant smile as bright as it always was when coming to see her beloved husband. It didn't take her long to see that something was going on with her two partners and her smile faltered. She looked at Chuck and noticed his stricken face. There was something there, she couldn't tell what, but it may have been mixed with fear. Glancing at Casey she saw that he appeared ready to explode. He was trembling and seemed to be holding his breath and… was that a smirk? Sarah's eyes flashed with anger but before she could say a word Casey was flying up the stairs and out of Castle with his feet barely touching the ground. Once the door closed behind him Sarah could hear what sounded like the muffled roar of some sort of swamp dwelling beast coming from the other side.

Stepping right up to Chuck and tilting her chin upwards for her requisite kiss she was surprised when Chuck abruptly backed away.

"What's going on Chuck?" she asked, perturbed. "Casey ran out of here like a bomb was about to go off and now you won't kiss me? Tell me what's wrong."

"N-nothing," Chuck stammered. "Nothing's wrong. I just don't think it's a good idea to kiss you right now."

"And why is that Chuck? Do I suddenly repulse you?" She smiled at her little joke as she knew Chuck adored her and hardly let a moment pass without telling her she was beautiful and that he loved her. But with her last question Chuck flinched.

"No, no, no nothing like that. It's just that I think I have a cold coming on and it probably wouldn't be a good idea exchanging bodily fluids, you know, saliva, exploring each other's mouths, that kind of thing." Chuck was rambling. "I'm just going to run to LargeMart to grab some Listeri… I mean NyQuil and then I'll go home and try to sleep it off. Okay, see you later." Chuck immediately darted up the stairs and out of Castle.

"Okay," Sarah said to the now empty Castle. Obviously Chuck was hiding something but she knew how to deal with her nerd. She had ways of making him talk.

Settling in front of her workstation she unlocked her computer with a couple of quick keystrokes. She just had some housekeeping to take care of before she could be on her way to meet Chuck at home and maybe put together some dinner. When the monitor came to life she noticed a new icon on the corner of the screen. It was labeled, simply, 'Surveillance.' Curiosity caused her to double click the icon and the video player opened to a clip entitled "One Shaw, One Cup."

"Hmm, I wonder what this is," Sarah said under her breath as the clip began to play.

The sounds echoing throughout Castle were beyond disturbing….


End file.
